So this post over at Vanishing Phoenix got me thinking with less than a year to go we ought to have a Centennial Thread. If there's a Centennial Project you're involved in or just think is neat, post about it here.

Perhaps the one that is most pertinent to urbanism and the sorts of things we discuss here frequently is the Centennial Way project. I was aware of the project but hadn't seen the website until today, I was expecting to be disappointed but came away rather impressed.

Each of AZ's 15 County's will have one of these informative displays along Centennial Way. I really like the built in shade structures that can also (and hopefully will) house solar panels.

They're also planning on having large shade displays on various topics. This one is on Arizona's famous Canyons.

Here's a rendering of it in place with more tree's and such. I do find one thing about this picture to be troublesome and its the ugly rock in the planter strip. I hope we can be a bit more creative than that and plant grass or colored lantana's and various desert flora.

An overview picture.

Another project I think is a very neat one is the Arizona CENTennial Penny Drive. Which is encouraging AZ kids to save penny's to help shine the beautiful Copper dome. Hopefully more schools will get involved with this as from what I can tell the response hasn't been great.

Anyway Arizona 100 has lists of projects, festivals, events, etc that are upcoming as part of the Centennial if you want to check any of it out.

It's a nice idea, but is anyone else baffled as to why they (whomever is responsible for this project) might think that someone might actually be walking on Washington Street in this area? The capitol mall has been a deadzone for 60-70 years. A few trees are a start, but I'd much rather see this installation in a singular place where people might actually go to see it (Wesley Bolin or the Civic Space Park). Truthfully, until there's some sort of link between the capitol building grounds and downtown (let's say...a train?) and at least something of value to see / patronize near the capitol, it's going to remain disparate.

__________________Even if you are 1 in a million, there are still 7,000 people just like you...

^What could the State reasonably do right now thought to attract people to that area though? Increasing the quality of pedestrian amenities is a cheap thing that can be done so if in the future its a more active area, the infrastructure will already be in place.

There are already plans to run LRT down Jefferson connecting the Capitol to Downtown, so that'll happen eventually.

I'd love to see an actual Capitol Mall going from 7th Ave to Wesley Boilin Plaza but that would take a huge amount of money and time.

We can hope for the City to zone for more mixed use in the area, make sure future buildings are lined with retail, etc. but thats all irrelevant anyone since no buildings are going to be built any time soon.

About the only thing I can think that would really help is permitting food trucks and more cart vendors in the area so they could serve the Daytime workers down there. I'm not sure where most Capitol workers go for lunch, I assume they mostly all head to Downtown or just pack a lunch as there's very few options in the Mall area itself.

Same here. I would think it's a no-brainer that AZ will come up with a centennial license plate. There are already dozens of possible AZ plates you can choose from. I'm not going to ditch my Sun Devil plate though if they do.

^Long term I think it's a mix of zoning changes, transit, and providing amenities to the people who are already there (government workers).

But in the short term for some sort of Centennial celebration, I'd much rather see what little money they spend go to a location that already has at least some activity (Bolin) or is guaranteed to be seen (Civic Park).

Now that I think about it, what's the deal with the Carnegie Library? That would be an interesting midpoint destination to create and is already blessed with a lovely historic structure.

__________________Even if you are 1 in a million, there are still 7,000 people just like you...

^Long term I think it's a mix of zoning changes, transit, and providing amenities to the people who are already there (government workers).

But in the short term for some sort of Centennial celebration, I'd much rather see what little money they spend go to a location that already has at least some activity (Bolin) or is guaranteed to be seen (Civic Park).

Now that I think about it, what's the deal with the Carnegie Library? That would be an interesting midpoint destination to create and is already blessed with a lovely historic structure.

I agree Wesley Bolin needs to be fixed up. At the VERY least they need to get rid of all the surface parking in it and replace it with grass and trees, that doesn't seem like it would cost too much.

Speaking of plates, does anyone know why the historic vehicle license plates nearly always say "77" on the top right corner (even though it says "75" on the mvd website)? I'll assume, for some reason, you have to have a car older than 1977 in order to have that plate, but it would be much cooler if they could put the year of the car that the plate is actually on, on the plate. It looks weird seeing a Model A driving down the road with a historical plate that says "77".

I sent an email to the Centennial page explaining my concern about the lack of plants in the planter strip and whether or not there would be trees to help create shade.

I actually got a CALL back, which was nice and unusual. The gal who called me assured me there would be lantana's and other desert plants in the planter strips, so it won't be just gravel which is nice.

Regarding planting shade trees in the planter strips apparently its a no can do b/c of the Federal government. The Centennial Way project is being primarily Federally funded and the Federal Gov't decided the "rhythm" of the palm trees with no shade tree's between them was part of the historic element of the street. So sadly no shade tree's can be planted there as part of this project, even though the Centennial Way people wanted to include them very much.

Their plan is to put irrigation systems in there and then hopefully in the future as part of another project thats funded either privately or locally, shade trees could be added.

Also I suggested in my email the idea of allowing Food Carts and Trucks in Bolin plaza and she loved that idea and is going to pass it along, so thats good.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and other state officials held a groundbreaking ceremony near the Capitol Tuesday for the Centennial Way project.

Feb. 14, 2012 will mark Arizona’s 100th year as a state, and the $7.1 million project is expected to be largely completed by December of this year, with final landscape elements being added by the centennial date.

^What could the State reasonably do right now thought to attract people to that area though? Increasing the quality of pedestrian amenities is a cheap thing that can be done so if in the future its a more active area, the infrastructure will already be in place.

There are already plans to run LRT down Jefferson connecting the Capitol to Downtown, so that'll happen eventually.

I'd love to see an actual Capitol Mall going from 7th Ave to Wesley Boilin Plaza but that would take a huge amount of money and time.

We can hope for the City to zone for more mixed use in the area, make sure future buildings are lined with retail, etc. but thats all irrelevant anyone since no buildings are going to be built any time soon.

About the only thing I can think that would really help is permitting food trucks and more cart vendors in the area so they could serve the Daytime workers down there. I'm not sure where most Capitol workers go for lunch, I assume they mostly all head to Downtown or just pack a lunch as there's very few options in the Mall area itself.

I work in the Capitol area and it's terrible - there is almost nothing to do there during lunch or after work. Most people bring in lunch, eat in the cafeteria, or drive to a fast food restaurant. Food trucks and street vendors would be a huge help.

I occasionally take the DASH bus downtown but it takes waaaaay too long during my lunch hour because it literally stops about every 1/16th to 1/8th of a mile for the (presumably) homeless people from the shelter just south of Jefferson.

Not to beat up on a group of people who obviously need the most help of all (homeless), but if you are going to have a bus specifically for employees at the Capitol Mall, then it needs to serve them well. Currently it does not.